Question for Petro Engineers...How long before we know if relief well works?
- Thread starter sardis
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is what they have been saying on the news. Once they get close is when it actually gets very slow and time consuming.
Why drilling a normal well for oil, they just have to get within a few dozen feet of the well and that is a pretty easy target to hit.
This is much more difficult since they must directly intersect the hole leading to the leaking well. We are talking about hitting a target 5000 feet down that is only a few inches wide. This means, from my limited understanding, that they must keep backing about the drilling pipe and inserting some type of sonar that tells them where their target is. This is very time consuming and must be exact, all while working in an environment that is very harsh and unforgiving.
That is my very limited understanding of why they got within a few hundred feet and then we have heard nothing else.
Why drilling a normal well for oil, they just have to get within a few dozen feet of the well and that is a pretty easy target to hit.
This is much more difficult since they must directly intersect the hole leading to the leaking well. We are talking about hitting a target 5000 feet down that is only a few inches wide. This means, from my limited understanding, that they must keep backing about the drilling pipe and inserting some type of sonar that tells them where their target is. This is very time consuming and must be exact, all while working in an environment that is very harsh and unforgiving.
That is my very limited understanding of why they got within a few hundred feet and then we have heard nothing else.
The report about 16 feet from the other wellbore may have been slightly exaggerated. I contacted my contact who works at BPs office (not for BP) and he said they were about 50 feet from the other wellbore... but that doesn't mean they only had 50 feet to drill. They were going alongside the other wellbore... and were basically going damn near parallel with it for another 900' before they attempted to intersect the well. They want to get as close to the reservoir as possible prior to intersecting it.<div>
</div><div>If my contact is correct, and there's only about 900' to go, we should probably be hearing something in the next two to three weeks on if we can shut this well in,. assuming they hit the target. I'm not real sure how complex actually getting into the other wellbore is going to be, as I've never been really involved in the drilling side of things (I work primarily in completions). Depending on the chemical composition of the pipe, they may have HELL getting through it. I've worked on projects (for BP) to drill out some 25% Super Duplex Chrome casing (has large quantities of tungsten in it) and we had a helluva time cutting it. I'm not sure what kind of pipe Horizon was using.</div><div>
</div><div>And yes, you are correct about this being much more difficult. 3 miles worth of drilling and needing to intersect EXACTLY into a pipe about 10" in diameter.... not an everyday walk in the park for sure.</div>
</div><div>If my contact is correct, and there's only about 900' to go, we should probably be hearing something in the next two to three weeks on if we can shut this well in,. assuming they hit the target. I'm not real sure how complex actually getting into the other wellbore is going to be, as I've never been really involved in the drilling side of things (I work primarily in completions). Depending on the chemical composition of the pipe, they may have HELL getting through it. I've worked on projects (for BP) to drill out some 25% Super Duplex Chrome casing (has large quantities of tungsten in it) and we had a helluva time cutting it. I'm not sure what kind of pipe Horizon was using.</div><div>
</div><div>And yes, you are correct about this being much more difficult. 3 miles worth of drilling and needing to intersect EXACTLY into a pipe about 10" in diameter.... not an everyday walk in the park for sure.</div>
#1 Media reports have proven to be unreliable. Not that the media is lying. The sources, primarily BP I presume, haven't been good.
#2 In all seriousness - why don't they just blow it up? And by blow it up, I mean plant a powerful explosive in the earth some distance from the well and crush it with rock, maybe melted rock.
#3 Nuke it? Seriously...an underground nuke isn't going to contaminate anything. And it would damn sure crush the well and seal it with a layer of melted rock. Far be it from anyone to suggest nuclear power for anything, including electric power plants.
#2 In all seriousness - why don't they just blow it up? And by blow it up, I mean plant a powerful explosive in the earth some distance from the well and crush it with rock, maybe melted rock.
#3 Nuke it? Seriously...an underground nuke isn't going to contaminate anything. And it would damn sure crush the well and seal it with a layer of melted rock. Far be it from anyone to suggest nuclear power for anything, including electric power plants.
that those could all make it much worse. Somehow open new channels or collapse the whole formation or something.